The Angolan government has authorized the state hydrocarbon company to cede a large fraction of its equity in one of the country’s optimal producing assets to a privately owned, local independent.
Sonangol – Exploração e Produção, SA will transfer 17% of its own 30%, amounting to 5% of the entire shares of all participating interests in block 17/06, to the Falcon Oil holding company, part of the António Mosquito group.
Block 17/06, operated by TOTALEnergies, produced 38,000Barrels of Oil Per Day in May 2026.
Falcon’s 5% share in the block now grows to 10%.
The updated composition of equities in the block then becomes: TOTALEnergies EP Angola Block 17/06 (-30%); Sonangol – Exploração e Produção, SA (25%); SSI Seventeen Limited (27.5%); Falcon Oil Holding Angola, SA (10%); Etu Energias Bloco 17/06 (SU) (7.5%).
Falcon Oil was founded by the Angola businessman António Mosquito in Panama in 1998. It currently holds a 20% stake in Etu Energias operated Block 2/05, a shallow water producing block. It also holds a 10% stake in ExxonMobil -operated undeveloped, non-producing Block 33.
Falcon Oil was not always a top-notch participant in Angola’s E&P environment. The company was removed from three blocks: 18/06, 6/06 and 15/06 by the Ministry of Petroleum between 2014 and 2015, on account of lack of proven suitability and financial capacity, after the group had accumulated debts worth over $200Million with the State. “It was one of the most cited episodes on the financial fragility of Angola owned E&P companies in the face of the cost commitments of the contracting groups”, according to the Angolan economic and financial media outlet O Ponteiro. “Falcon Oil regained ground in the following years: in 2015, it was the (homegrown) oil company with the highest production growth in Angola, a jump of 3.207% from the previous year”.
According to the order signed by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Sonangol – Exploration and Production, SA notified its intention to transfer to Falcon Oil Holding Angola 5% (five percent) of the participating interest it holds in this concession to the national concessionaire, which did not wish to exercise its right of first refusal.